The Boston Bruins fought off a late-charging Philadelphia Flyers team to win 4-3 in the shootout.

Tuukka Rask stopped four out of five shooters in the shootout and made 49 saves to pace the Bruins. Reilly Smith ended the shootout in the fifth round with his goal against Steve Mason to give the Bruins their 15th win in the past 16 games and their ninth consecutive win on the road.

— Zdeno Chara scored his 10th power play goal of the season in the second period and did so by being parked around the net. If you’re a goalie, you’ll wake up in cold sweats thinking about that playing out over and over again.

It’s got nothing to do with the fact that it hit the Flyer defender (even though it did), it has to do with the fact that Ericsson clearly kicked the puck to Krejci after hitting it with his hand.

stratomaticfan - Mar 30, 2014 at 10:06 PM

Once the hand pass hits the Flyer, it becomes a normal play of the puck. At that point, there is no rule against kicking it to your teammate. The only illegal kick at that point is if they kick it into the net.

laxman1944 - Mar 31, 2014 at 8:38 AM

Take your freaking win and shut your pie hole……Please…..

nunan - Mar 30, 2014 at 3:32 PM

That Bergeron move during the shootout is almost automatic. Once here went out wide, I knew what was coming. Love it. And I wish they let the fight go a little longer. Rinaldo popped Iggy a couple times but there was still plenty left in that bout, hence’s Iginla’s frustration.

15-1-1 in March. I expect them to start resting guys now. The President’s trophy is great but the rest is better. Got to assume the other teams contending for that title will rest players, too.

killerpgh - Mar 30, 2014 at 3:34 PM

Good game to watch for a fan of neither team. A little less physical than I thought it was going to be. 2 teams playing good team hockey.

As soon as it went to shootout I knew the Bruins had it. We just cannot win in the stupid skills competition. It’s such a terrible way to end a hard fought battle. But anyway, I’ll take the one point against that team any day. You’d be hard pressed to find any weaknesses on the Boston roster and we hung with em. Guess that demotion got Lecavaliers attention. The Flyers may have weaknesses but they wont be an easy out in the playoffs. Great game.

nunan - Mar 30, 2014 at 3:40 PM

I think most Bs fans were thinking the same thing. Terrible in the shootout. I thought they were pretty aggressive during the shootout today though. Just going for it, a lot of speed.

matt14gg - Mar 30, 2014 at 4:51 PM

Agreed, except the Bruins aren’t much better in the shootout. Good win for the B’s but there’s no question the Flyers are light years from where they were a couple months ago. They are clearly going in the right direction. Still not sure they have the goaltending to get very far in the playoffs though.

Yeah I was at the first Flyers-Bruins game and we got drubbed. The Flyers are totally different now. They don’t giveup and they’ve got a ton of firepower. That’s why they’ve managed a franchise record 3rd period comebacks and managed another miraculous one today. Lots of ppl question Steve Mason bc of his past but since he’s been in Philly he’s been a legitimate #1. I’ve never seen him in the playoffs so he’s unproven, but I think it’s safe to assume this Flyers team is far better than the Blue Jackets club that got swept out by Detroit years back.

As a Bruins fan, I feel the same way. It’s unfortunate a team has to lose an extra point in the most ridiculous way, but those kinds of losses are also easier to take. The Flyers outplayed them today and you can at least be proud of the effort they put in. The only thing that makes it tough is knowing some teams’ playoff chances or positioning might be affected by these shootout points. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen to the Flyers.

Appreciate it. I do feel good that this club didn’t give up against a superior opponent, we stuck with the Bruins til the end. And it’s not some new anomaly, they’ve beaten teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Jose, LA, and St Louis this season. But I legitimately hate shootouts and always have. Luckily the Flyers are in pretty decent shape in the standings right now so the one point shouldn’t kill us (knock on wood). Anyway, you got a damn good team up there in Boston. Hopefully we can meet again when it really matters.

…Maybe that’s because the Flyers played their game? 52 shots today, wins over St. Louis, Pittsburgh (2x), Chicago, Dallas, in the last few weeks.

joey4id - Mar 30, 2014 at 4:15 PM

Maybe… or maybe not. Do you think the B’s giving up 52 shots to a team still on the bubble in March is indicative of their play? Actually! Chuck that… Did you notice how disorganized the B’s were in their d zone today? (which is why Flyers got 52 shots)

edzo82270 - Mar 30, 2014 at 4:47 PM

52 shots, and still lost

mornelithe - Mar 31, 2014 at 1:12 PM

Not to take anything away from the performance, because I quite enjoyed the game and thought both teams should’ve kept going until it was settled as a TEAM. However, the B’s had also played 3 games in 3 1/2 days. An emotionally charged Blackhawks @ Bruins, then a flight across the country to Washington, then a flight to Philly.

The most important thing to take away is that the Flyer’s are clearly going in the right direction, and may very well have won outright if there had been no SO. I’m pretty psyched at the prospect of a Flyers/B’s best of 7 matchup…would be pretty insane.

I cant stand both teams, but kudos to the Flyers and Bruins for playing a great game today. The Flyers in my opinion are my dark horse team to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

matt14gg - Mar 30, 2014 at 4:55 PM

BTW, I just can’t let it go that Tim Peel made one of the worst calls of the season on the Ericsson “hand pass”. It’s hard to imagine Krejci would have missed the empty net, so in the end Philly got a gift of a point, but still they played well and the scoreboard is all that matters.

As far as Tim Peel goes; he is a notoriously bad official and you just can’t allow that kind of incompetence this late in the season, with teams fighting for playoff spots.

But what about the bs hook on Hartnell that took away a PP? Maybe the Flyers score there. And there were other calls that went Boston’s way. I agree it was questionable but there was no “gift” here. The Flyers still had to battle for every inch on the goal that tied it 3-3. In fact the whole game they battled hard. They didn’t just automatically tie it bc the whistle blew on a play where Krejci may or may not have scored. Refs miss calls, make mistakes; I was pissed about some of their decisions today but it’s all part of the game.

matt14gg - Mar 30, 2014 at 5:50 PM

All fair, except the part where you say it was “questionable”. It was not “questionable”, it was 100% the wrong call. Peel, who was very far from the play, called Ericsson for a hand pass. It was clear to just about everyone else in real time, and absolutely everyone else when shown on replay, that Ericsson hit the puck, with his hand, down to his foot where he obviously kicked it to Krejci, who had a wide open net. Absolutely correct to say “he could have missed”, but there’s no way you can say the call was “questionable”.

Well the flyers got that power play off a horrible call on Kelly so I felt that horrible call on hartnell made up for that and couldn’t really complain

matt14gg - Mar 30, 2014 at 5:56 PM

And as far as the “hook” on Hartnell: those are judgement calls and refs miss them all the time. It sucks, but it’s a fact of life. A hand pass is not a judgement call. He either did it or he didn’t and Ericsson clearly didn’t.

BTW, for the people who love to claim that the Bruins somehow benefit from biased officiating, the following is absolute fact: the Bruins have, by far, the least amount of power plays in the NHL. I could dig up the stat, but the next fewest team has about 10 more power plays than the Bruins. People who say the Bruins are the beneficiaries of a league wide, pro-Bruins conspiracy (not saying this is you by the way), are morons.

And the interference call on the B’s that gave them a pp to begin with, Kelly skated in front of , side to side, and skating forward, simmons skated and into Kelly and gabbed him by the shoulder and threw himself around like Kelly checked him, so I guess it was a make call on the hook…both were the quote zero tolerance bad call…

Flyers got called for a penalty on hall for hooking Ericsson and he clearly dove wich lead to the bruins tieing it up on the powerplay so There was your freebie for the bruins. The flyers got robbed on so many calls it was ridiculous so don’t pretend the flyers made out with a extra point. The flyers clearly are the ones who screwed here

slaugin - Mar 30, 2014 at 4:59 PM

Bruins need more games like this before playoff start. The way they been cruising its nice to play from behind with urgency. Adversity will only help them

I’m a bruins fan but really think Flyers will make noise in the playoffs, Win or lose their opponent will have to earn everything they get. They will grind teams down. I can’t wait for Playoffs

jucam1 - Mar 30, 2014 at 6:25 PM

What a great game between a potential champion in the Bruins and a hard nose upstart with a lot of upside in the Flyers. As a Flyers fan i loved watching two warrior teams that respect each other go at it. I want the Cup in Philly, but if we don’t get it, I hope the Bruins take the mission of making sure Syd and the rest of Pennsylvania’s 5th rate city don’t get there. All kidding aside, I like the Pitt, it’s a nice tiny little town, quaint and all but the Penguins and their fans are annoying. So I want a true legit big city like Philly if possible and if not Boston, to represent the East. These two teams look ready for the playoff grind! Of course the NHL would love to have a legit east coast city in the finals for the playoff ratings too

Please, Pierre is no Bruin fan, I think he reads up on the best player in each game he does and remembers like 5 stats…What I find even funnier by the national broadcasting clowns, is when a goalie is hit directly square in the chest and “IT’S AN AMAZING SAVE!!!!!” You are right though, no sindey talk, which leads me to believe NBC must be receiving an awful lot of flack about their love affair with the Pens, maybe they realize that they might not even get out of the first round.

scottybcboy - Mar 30, 2014 at 7:15 PM

I love the fact that Coach Julien goes with 3 forwards and 1 D in ot, same against Mtl. I wish more teams would try to win rather than trying not to lose.
That being said……can’t wait for the playoffs, where 5 on 5 decides the game, advantage B’s.

Good game to watch except the one constant that exists for any game in Philly is the fans. I think the first word spoken by any child born in Philly is “boo.” And it’s worse for eagle home games. Flyers look like a team ready to lose to the rangers. Bruins look like the team that will lose to the kings in 6.

key for flyers is to get the 2 seed and home ice. a flyers-rangers series probably goes 7. watch out for detroit. they suddenly have 84 pts and look like 1st wc. if so they probably send pitt home in 1st rd which in turn probably brings big changes to pitt including dismissal of bylsma.

flyers have to be careful that they don’t falter down the stretch and end up with 2nd wc. first rd matchup vs bost would be brutal.

Calls had nothing to do with this game. The bruins scored 2 goals because the flyers defensive coverage is still questionable. You can’t leave players open in the slot and boston took advantage. It was a good game though and I feel better about the flyers playoff chances